The Faces of Foreclosures

Hubby and I expected to purchase a bank owned home in foreclosure in San Diego. Home prices have fallen as much as forty percent from the height of the market. This sounded wonderful. We talked about the people that were losing their homes. Didn't they know what they were getting into with these non-traditional home loans?

We viewed dozens and dozens of homes. Some were new construction homes, but mostly homes less than five years old. Some were vacant with damage to the construction of the home. Most had missing fixtures and yanked wall units that made gaping holes. Appliances were stripped, hardware was missing, and even pool pumps were taken. Some homes had signs of electrical wiring damage. The landscaping in some of these homes was almost fabulous. But previous owners ripped out anything smaller than a tree.

If that was hard to see, even worse were the homes where people lived. People refused to answer the door, even though we scheduled an appointment with their realtor. We could hear people inside, though. At a few different homes, parents sent their children to open the door, and then hid from us. That was the hardest. Hubby and I felt terribly for these children, knowing they were uncomfortable with us looking at their bedrooms. And still, there were other people that showed us their homes willingly, and too eagerly. At one home, three family members asked how we liked the home. The father called to us as we left, "Is is the home of your dreams?" The people were nice, genuinely nice, but desperate and stressed. The homes were all beautiful, and some were promising. But now we looked at the homes through different eyes. We had seen the faces of foreclosures; we saw the anger left behind at vacant homes, the uneasiness of children, flustered parents, and anxious others. After days of looking, our hearts were softened toward these people and their situation.

When the economy is strong, home prices in San Diego skyrocket forty percent above the national average. The cost of living is outrageous. But in times like these, San Diego takes an incredibly hard hit. The same thing happened in the mid '80s and in the late '90s.

We are still very excited to move, though, and we do imagine the possibilities. We looked at this house over and over. This is just part of the pool. Hubby calls this the Hugh Hefner pool. Hefner's pool is famous for it's waterfall and walk in cave that leads to a hot tub that accommodates six people. This pool has a waterfall that cascades over bench seating with a built in table. I told him he had to give me bunny ears.